Palatin Technologies, Inc. (NYSEMKT:PTN) has become a hot stock for investors, as the company released the results from its phase-3 clinical trials of bremelanotide. The announcement was made on Tuesday, after the markets closed, creating a massive 71% surge for the stock, at the start of November 2. In a press release, the company clarified that the experimental drug had been successful in increasing the libido in women, with low sex drive.
PTN claimed that the two phase-3 studies had met their co-primary endpoints, namely improvement in desire and decrease in distress associated with low sexual drive, in pre-menopausal women. Carl Spana, the CEO of PTN, expressed his pleasure at the results and also thanked the women who took part in the two studies. He claimed that desire and associated distress were two defining issues for the diagnosis of hypoactive sexual desire disorder, both of which showed a statistically significant improvement, when treated with bermelanotide.
The CMO of Palatin, Johna D. Lucas, revealed that the drug was used on as needed basis, in the phase-3 trials, with a single dose being self-administered. He further stated that patients who responded to the drug, also experienced a meaningful benefit, in their HSDD condition. The company further announced that it plans to provide additional and detailed results from the studies, at future conferences, concerning women health and sexual medicine. This would be done in addition to publishing the results, in peer reviewed journals.
However, one analyst, at TheStreet, believes that the company’s so called success is not of much significance. The analyst claims that co-primary endpoints are supposed to measured after 32-weeks of study, as compared to the 24-weeks results from PTN. He also claims that the drug had been developed to increase the frequency of sexual intercourse, which has not been seen thus far. The analyst also pointed out that the drug had to be administered approximately 45-minutes prior to having sex and although the outcomes are statistically significant, they barely meet the clinical threshold for a meaningful improvement.
Palatin Technologies, Inc. (NYSEMKT:PTN) surged by 17.72%, during the November 2 trading session, to close at $0.57 per share, on a trade volume of 30.75 million.
